No Human Injuries As Plane Lands In Herd Of Wild Boars

Pax on Indian low-cost carrier Spicejet had a lucky escape when their plane landed in a herd of up to 40 wild boars and skidded off the runway into the grass at JLR, the Times of India reported.

One of the airline’s de Havilland Dash 8-400s, flying from BOM with 49 pax and 4 crew, were making an early evening landing “when a herd of 30-40 boars strayed onto the runway prompting the crew to attempt averting the animals by turning left”, the Aviation Herald reported.

The aircraft veered off the runway and came to a stop on soft ground with the left main and nose gear collapsed. There were no injuries but the aircraft received substantial damage. 3 dead boars were recovered from the runway.

A SpiceJet statement said: “The skilful and experienced hands of Captain Amartya Basu, who has more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, today helped to avert a major disaster by diverting the aircraft towards the left of the runway to moderate the impact of the event. Damage to the aircraft is still being assessed, however all the 49 passengers and 4 crew members are absolutely safe.”

As eGlobal Travel Media reports, it’s not the 1st time aircraft have struck animals on landing. In August 2013, Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air crashed a 737-900 into a cow and skidded off the runway at Gorontalo airport on northern Sulawesi island.

In November 2009, an Air Zimbabwe Xian MA60 aircraft hit 5 warthogs on take-off. The take-off was aborted but the undercarriage collapsed causing substantial damage to the aircraft. Several warthogs were the only casualties.